Written by: Adrienne Martin
We are very grateful to those who participated in our annual client survey at the end of 2017 and wanted to take a moment to update you on the findings. As always, we will use the insights gained through the survey to guide our initiatives for 2018. In fact, our Leadership Team gathered this week to chart the course for the firm in 2018 and your survey responses informed their discussion.
In 2017, 168 clients took the time to complete our client survey, more than in any previous year and 32.1% more than in 2016. In the past, we have launched our survey closer to the Thanksgiving holiday. Since the earlier timeframe seems to make survey completion more convenient for clients, moving forward we plan to continue conducting our annual survey in late October/early November. We also shortened the survey length to make survey completion easier for clients.
We were thrilled that all service areas ratings were higher in 2017 than in 2016. One real point of pride is a marked improvement in the way clients perceived how we followed through on meeting/call recommendations. In 2016’s survey, the satisfaction rating for this service area had declined slightly, so in 2017 we implemented new process improvements to ensure better task completion and communication from your JPP team after a meeting or call. Our efforts paid off! In 2017, the rating for the statement, “My financial team does an effective job following through on recommendations that have been made in our meetings/calls” rose 5.3% over 2016.
Other service area satisfaction rate improvements were:
- “My financial team is committed to helping me succeed in reaching my financial goals” rose 5.2% over 2016.
- “I understand the goals and strategies for my financial plan” rose 6.2% over 2016.
- “My financial team does an effective job communicating my financial strategy and changes or decisions that affect me” rose 6.7% over 2016.
- “My financial team responds within 24 hours of contact” rose 5.7% over 2016.
Client satisfaction with both strategists and overall firm performance also rated higher in 2017. The strategist performance rating was up 5.4% and the rating for overall firm-wide services performance was up by 2.2%.
Clients reported that better team coordination and communication of team members’ roles would improve JPP’s performance. We hear you, and we will work to improve upon this in 2018.
When asked to name the qualities they most value in JPP, clients responded, “trustworthiness, professionalism and competent financial stewardship.” We are happy clients view us as embodying these characteristics.
And finally, we were gratified to find that our clients feel strongly that as a firm we succeed in functioning as their Personal Chief Financial Officer. We look forward to exceeding expectations as we continue to serve as your Personal CFO in 2018.